There's No Place Like Home: Feminist Communities, Social Citizenship and (Un)Belonging in Montreal's Long Women's Movement, 1952-1992

There's No Place Like Home: Feminist Communities, Social Citizenship and (Un)Belonging in Montreal's Long Women's Movement, 1952-1992

Abstract

The author argues for the necessity of re-writing the history of feminism in Quebec and Canada. She points out that historical accounts on the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s pay scant attention to the experiences of women outside of the French Québécois or English Canadian norms. By conducting case studies on the Quebec Native Women's Association, the Congress of Black Women of Canada, the Centro Donne Italiane di Montreal, the Point de ralliement des femmes d'origine haïtienne and the Front de libération des femmes du Québec, the author points out the differences between women in and near Montreal, and how these differences influenced their civic engagement. She illustrates how women's various social locations shaped the strategies they adopted in their push for autonomy. Her argument brings to light the multiplicity of women-centred narratives in Quebec's metropolis.